This book offers a dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging fundamental assumptions about social evolution, the development of agriculture, cities, the state, democracy, and inequality. Graeber and Wengrow argue that traditional theories of human history, such as those posited by Hobbes and Rousseau, are not supported by anthropological or archaeological evidence. Instead, they show that humans have lived in large, complex, but decentralized societies for millennia, often without ruling elites or hierarchical systems. The authors draw on extensive research in archaeology and anthropology to reveal a history that is more varied and hopeful than previously assumed, emphasizing human experimentation with different social arrangements and the potential for new forms of freedom and societal organization.
In this book, Damasio argues that emotions are essential to rational thinking and normal social behavior. He challenges René Descartes' mind-body dualism by presenting case studies, particularly the famous case of Phineas Gage, to demonstrate how brain damage can affect decision-making and personality. Damasio introduces the 'somatic marker hypothesis,' which posits that emotions guide behavior and decision-making, and that rationality requires emotional input. The book is divided into three parts, exploring case studies, explanations for the effects of brain injuries, and testing the somatic marker hypothesis[2][4][5].
In this book, James C. Scott examines the failures of centrally managed social plans and the destructive consequences of high-modernist ideologies. Scott argues that states often impose simplistic visions on complex societies, ignoring local, practical knowledge and leading to disastrous outcomes. He identifies four conditions common to all planning disasters: administrative ordering of nature and society, high-modernist ideology, authoritarian state power, and a prostrate civil society. The book critiques various utopian projects, including collective farms, compulsory villagization, and urban planning, and advocates for a more nuanced approach that respects local diversity and practical knowledge.
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This week’s guest is my friend and inspiration, knowledge ecologist Christina Bowen. If I were to try and start a movement, I would call her first. Christina is CEO and co-founder of socialroots.io, an NSF- and Omidyar Network-funded software platform for cross-group collaboration that promotes aligned action and helps teams communicate legible impact metrics to stakeholders. Or, in the parlance of our times, she is a master of negotiating the complexities of human communication and community.
She has deep, lived experience of what it takes to subvert the toxic status quo, cultivate the health of teams, and rethink our “social” spaces so they actually work for human beings. She also introduced me to the world of “mycopunk”, an earthier and more distributed alternative to solarpunk that places more priority on our relationships and narrative construction as an inherently collective project.
This is a warm and grounded dialogue with someone I respect immensely as a force for betterment. Here is how her team describes their work and principles on their own website:
Our greatest challenges as a global civilization will require an unprecedented amount of cooperation and may have been caused in large part by unmitigated competition. We have founded Socialroots on a few key principles, summarized below, to support this shift into a more healthy future.
* Efficient coordination across groups enables more decentralized organizing and greater innovation.
* Data is a commons and must be treated as such. Platform users need to be empowered when it comes to their data.
* Power stays healthier when shared. We are dedicated to fair, transparent, and consent-driven work, enabling participatory communities to share values and approaches, and to approach teamwork informed by insights from healthy living systems.
There you have it. I highly recommend you reach out to her and her team if you are trying to do better work in groups.
Special Announcement: Join me for the first in a new series of live hangout calls for patrons on Saturday, January 18th at 2 pm Mountain Time! Let’s foster real and lasting collaborations in a safe place for collective inquiry.
Thank you and enjoy this episode!
Project Links
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Chapters
0:00:00 – Teaser0:01:31 – Intro0:06:58 – Meet Christina Bowen0:08:54 – Scaling Social Networks Without Burning Out0:14:00 – Working Out Loud in Small & Large Groups0:19:25 – Social Protocols of Coordination0:22:44 – Healthy Boundaries Online0:30:10 – Supporting Invisible or Illegible Labor0:40:50 – Subverting The Status (More-Than-Human) Pyramid0:51:44 – Salience Landscapes & Safe/Brave/Inclusive Spaces0:53:35 – AI-Augmented Communication & Spacemaking1:01:34 – Edge-Based Coherent Sensemaking vs. Toxic Hierarchies1:09:11 – Mindful Tech Use & Recommended Guests1:12:38 – Outro
Mentioned Media
Mycopunk Principles
Build Capacity: Scaling your network without burning outby Socialroots, Christina Bowen, Naomi Joy Smith
What is coordination and why is it so important to effective networks?by Ana Jamborcic, Christina Bowen, Socialroots
Intimacy Gradients: The Key to Fixing Our Broken Social Media Landscapeby Socialroots, Ana Jamborcic
Let's subvert the status pyramidby Socialroots, Ana Jamborcic
Working and learning out loudby Harold Jarche
Alyssa Allegretti on Sacred Domesticity and Hard Times in The Liminal WebFuture Fossils Podcast 225
Descartes’ Errorby Antonio Damasio
Seeing Like A Stateby James C. Scott
C. Thi Nguyen on The Seductions of Clarity, Weaponized Games, and Agency as ArtFuture Fossils 175
Amber Case & Michael Zargham on Entangled Technologies & Design As GovernanceFuture Fossils 213
Stephen Reid on Technological MetamodernismFuture Fossils 226
Nora Bateson on Warm Data vs. The Cold EquationsFuture Fossils 141
The Dawn of Everythingby David Graeber & David Wengrow
Generative Team Design: Innovation, Psychological Safety, and Empathyby Dara Blumenthal
Being Glueby Tanya Reilly
Identity Is Such A Dragby Luis Mojica and Sophie Strand on Holistic Life Navigation
The future is fungi: The rise and rhizomes of mushroom cultureby ASU Center for Science and The Imagination with Merlin Sheldrake, Kaitlin Smith, Jeff VanderMeer, and Corey Pressman
Other Mentions
• DWeb Camp• Responsive.org• Jeff Emmett• Plato• Bayo Akomolafe• Douglas Rushkoff• John Fullerton• Capitalinstitute.org• Cris Moore• Friedrich Hölderlin• Interspeciesinternet.io• Kumu.io• Joe Edelman• Pri Bertucci
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